Ayden Authement caps game-winning 80-yard drive in final two minutes with spectacular touchdown run lifting St. Charles Catholic to 12-7 win over the Greenies.
The NBC Sports Network put
Newman (New Orleans) on "The Battle Showcase" national broadcast Thursday night to highlight the nation's No. 1 junior recruit
Arch Manning and his team's high-powered offense. Instead it got a lot of defense from
St. Charles Catholic (LaPlace, La.) and a spectacular game-winning touchdown run by junior quarterback
Ayden Authement in a 12-7 victory at Strawberry Stadium on the campus of Southeastern Louisiana University.
Authement capped an unlikely 80-yard drive with a spinning, determined 24-yard touchdown run with 47 seconds left to lift the Comets (5-0) to the hard-fought victory. The game-winning drive started with 1:54 remaining and featured a 34-yard screen pass from Authement to
Brady St. Pierre. That set up Authement's planned run to the left side that caused several Newman defenders to miss.
They didn't miss tackles much all night.
Newman had shut down St. Charles Catholic especially after a pair of short
Carter Chauvin field goals in the first quarter. The Comets were held to less than 200 yards of offense but still dropped Newman to 4-1. They also avenged a 14-7 loss to the Greenies last year, the first Newman win over St. Charles in more than two decades.
Newman, which managed less than 170 yards on the night, had finally broke through midway through the third quarter on an 11-play,
63-yard drive keyed by a pass interference call, a 16-yard Manning keeper, a short fourth-down
completion and then capped with Manning's 18-yard strike over the middle to
Christopher Hunter with 5:30 left in the third quarter.
Arch Manning gave Newman a 7-6 lead in the third quarter on an 18-yard touchdown pass to Chris Hunter.
File photo by Parker Waters
It was one of few bright spots for the Greenies or Manning, who is the nephew of Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning. Texas coach Steve Sarkisian was on the sideline to see Manning, among other recruits, play.
Other than the touchdown drive, the Greenies did very little, even though it entered averaging 53 points per game.
The fast, active defense of St. Charles gave Manning and the his teammates fits. He finished 16 of 28 for 136 yards and an interception, was sacked twice and pressured numerous other times. Newman managed just 30 on the ground and also missed a couple of long field goal tries.
"I didn't make enough throws to win and wasn't myself," Manning told the
Lafayette Daily Advertiser. "Their defense was playing well. They're a well coached team. They just played well."
In his previous two games, Manning completed 36 of 44 passes for just under 500 yards and nine touchdowns when the Greenies piled up 126 points. They wish they could have stored some offense away.
The Comets were a giant step up in competition and the Greenies knew it. St. Charles had shut out three of its first four opponents coming in and allowed only 14 points all season.
"That's a really good opponent," Newman coach Nelson Stewart told his team afterward. "There may not be a finer defense in the state of Louisiana. You've got to be tough. Get back to work. Look at the film. Make corrections. Don't make excuses. Be tough and resilient."
Newman's defense was throughout. But St. Charles' was just a little tougher.
The first half half was a defensive stalemate, featuring no touchdowns and less than 200 yards of offense. Newman was fortunate to be down just 6-0.
Manning was intercepted on his third pass — right into the hands of linebacker
Michael Hotard — at the Newman 20. St. Charles got one first down, but the drive stalled and Chavin booted a 23-yard field goal to give St. Charles Catholic a 3-0 lead with 7:47 left in the first quarter.
After another three-and-out (there were plenty in this one) — Authement completed a 48-yard pass to the 5. Again, the Greenies came up with a superb goal-line stance and the Comets had to settle for another field goal, this one 20 yards by Chavin with 3:31 left in the first quarter.
The rest of the half was spent between the 20s.
The Comets host Cohen (New Orleans) next week, while Newman hosts Berkeley Prep (Tampa, Fla.) in another nationally-televised game on ESPNU.
